Latest news with #EuropeanChamberof
14-07-2025
- Automotive
Vietnam will ban fossil-fuel motorcycles from central Hanoi over pollution concerns
HANOI, Vietnam -- Vietnam will ban fossil-fuel motorcycles and mopeds in the heart of the capital, Hanoi, starting July 2026, as part of a nationwide effort to curb air pollution, state media reported. The directive issued by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh applies to the area inside and along the main ring road that encircles the center of Hanoi. The local government has been tasked with phasing out the two-wheelers by the deadline. Like the rest of Vietnam, motorcycles are the main mode of transport for most of Hanoi's 8 million residents. The city has nearly 7 million motorcycles and just over a million cars. But as incomes rise and more people switch to private vehicles, air pollution from traffic has become a growing concern. Hanoi is often enveloped in thick smog, ranking among the most polluted cities worldwide. Vietnam also wants to switch from fossil-fuel to electric vehicles to cut pollution and tackle climate change. Local EV maker VinFast is leading the shift by holding nearly a fifth of the market share, according to the European Chamber of Commerce. But it still has only a small share of the two-wheeler market. But many are concerned about the unclear plan for phasing out the vehicles. Nguyen Van Hung, 62, has spent three decades driving a motorcycle taxi in Hanoi, now working with Grab, a ride-hailing app widely used across Southeast Asia. He worries the ban will hit the working class hardest. 'It will affect people who rely on motorbikes to earn a living,' he said, pointing to delivery drivers, commuters and ride-hailing services. 'How can people just discard their vehicles?' Others said that the timeline was unrealistic. Hoang Duy Dung, 32, an office clerk who works in the city center, said he supports cleaner air but believes it is too soon. 'We need better public transport and more support before such a big change.' Central Hanoi is home to much of the city's business activity, including offices, government buildings and commercial hubs. A second phase, set to begin in January 2028, will expand the ban to a wider area and include all fossil-fuel two-wheelers, while also restricting some gasoline-powered cars. Other measures include upgrading waste-treatment plants, using digital tools to monitor pollution and introducing stricter penalties for violators. Whistleblowers could be rewarded for reporting environmental breaches. ___
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Vietnam will ban fossil-fuel motorcycles from central Hanoi over pollution concerns
Vietnam will ban fossil-fuel motorcycles and mopeds in the heart of the capital, Hanoi , starting July 2026, as part of a nationwide effort to curb air pollution, state media reported. The directive issued by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh applies to the area inside and along the main ring road that encircles the center of Hanoi. The local government has been tasked with phasing out the two-wheelers by the deadline. Like the rest of Vietnam, motorcycles are the main mode of transport for most of Hanoi's 8 million residents. The city has nearly 7 million motorcycles and just over a million cars. But as incomes rise and more people switch to private vehicles, air pollution from traffic has become a growing concern. Hanoi is often enveloped in thick smog, ranking among the most polluted cities worldwide. Vietnam also wants to switch from fossil-fuel to electric vehicles to cut pollution and tackle climate change. Local EV maker VinFast is leading the shift by holding nearly a fifth of the market share, according to the European Chamber of Commerce. But it still has only a small share of the two-wheeler market. But many are concerned about the unclear plan for phasing out the vehicles. Nguyen Van Hung, 62, has spent three decades driving a motorcycle taxi in Hanoi, now working with Grab, a ride-hailing app widely used across Southeast Asia. He worries the ban will hit the working class hardest. 'It will affect people who rely on motorbikes to earn a living,' he said, pointing to delivery drivers, commuters and ride-hailing services. 'How can people just discard their vehicles?' Others said that the timeline was unrealistic. Hoang Duy Dung, 32, an office clerk who works in the city center, said he supports cleaner air but believes it is too soon. 'We need better public transport and more support before such a big change.' Central Hanoi is home to much of the city's business activity, including offices, government buildings and commercial hubs. A second phase, set to begin in January 2028, will expand the ban to a wider area and include all fossil-fuel two-wheelers, while also restricting some gasoline-powered cars. Other measures include upgrading waste-treatment plants, using digital tools to monitor pollution and introducing stricter penalties for violators. Whistleblowers could be rewarded for reporting environmental breaches.
The Sun
06-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Vietnam trade surplus with US surges, clouding tariff talks
HANOI: Vietnam's trade surplus with the US expanded sharply in May as exports swelled and its imports from China also jumped, exacerbating sore points with Washington that could hurt Hanoi's efforts to avoid crippling tariffs. Separate trade data from the US also showed Vietnam's surplus overtook Mexico's in April, lagging only China and the European Union. US President Donald Trump has vowed to bring down the US trade deficit and the Southeast Asian country faces one of his highest 'reciprocal' tariffs at 46% if a deal cannot be negotiated before a pause on the levies ends in early July. Despite Hanoi's efforts and pledges to meet Washington's demands, the surplus keeps growing, particularly as exporters rush to get their goods to the US before the tariffs go into effect. The new figures 'may put some clouds in the sky of these negotiations and put pressure on Vietnam to make additional concessions to reach an agreement,' said Leif Schneider, vice-chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam's legal sector committee. The surplus with the US surged to US$12.2 billion (RM52 billion) in May, up nearly 42% from a year earlier and 17% higher than April, Vietnamese government data showed yesterday. Exports to the US also climbed roughly 42% from a year earlier to a post-pandemic high of US$13.8 billion. That stands in contrast to signs that other countries are reining in their exports to the US with the US trade deficit narrowing sharply in April. Schneider noted that while Vietnam's spike in exports was largely due to front-loading ahead of possible tariffs, and represents a short-term inflation of the surplus, Vietnam is in a particularly hard spot because of its limited imports from the US. In the first five months of the year, the surplus hit nearly US$50 billion, up 28.5% and putting Vietnam on track to exceed last year's record surplus. The country's imports from China also posted a post-pandemic record of US$16.2 billion in May, up 21% from a year earlier. Vietnam is home to large manufacturing operations of US multinationals such as Apple, Intel and Nike , and it also hosts numerous Chinese companies, often suppliers to US firms. US officials have repeatedly accused Vietnam of being used as a waypoint for Chinese goods destined for the US. They allege that some goods have 'Made in Vietnam' labels despite having received no or insufficient added value in the country – allowing Chinese exporters to avoid high US duties on their goods. The US has sent a 'long' list of 'tough' requests to Vietnam in its tariff negotiations including demands that could force the country to cut its reliance on Chinese industrial goods imports, two people briefed about the matter have said. Under US pressure, Hanoi has launched a crackdown on illegal transshipments of goods, mostly from China. It has also repeatedly shown its willingness to reduce non-tariff barriers and to import more US goods including US planes, farm products and energy, although no purchase contracts have been announced yet. Vietnam's overall trade figures with the world showed exports in May rose 17% from a year earlier to US$39.6 billion, while imports were up 14% at US$39 billion. Separate government data also out yesterday showed industrial production in May shot up 9.4% from a year earlier, while consumer prices rose 3.24% and retail sales were up 10.2%. Foreign investment inflows for January-May climbed 7.9% to US$8.9 billion. Foreign investment pledges over the period soared 51.2% to US$18.4 billion. – Reuters
Straits Times
01-06-2025
- Automotive
- Straits Times
Doing business in China is getting harder, but its exports are hard to resist
A worker at an electric vehicle assembly line in Chongqing, China. The EU has imposed tariffs lately in response to China's soaring exports of manufactured goods. PHOTO: EPA-EFE Doing business in China is getting harder, but its exports are hard to resist – European companies, many of which have operated in China for decades, are finding it increasingly difficult to do business in the country, another sign of how China's weak domestic economy and opaque regulations are testing even longstanding multinational business ties. European carmakers have been rapidly losing market share and face many political difficulties. Volkswagen agreed last December to sell its factory in north-western China's Xinjiang region, where Beijing has repressed Muslim ethnic groups. European pharmaceutical and medical imaging equipment companies have found themselves locked out of much of the state-run health system. An extensive annual survey of businesses released May 28 by the European Chamber of Commerce in China found that nearly three-quarters said it was getting harder to operate in China. It was the fourth consecutive year that the survey showed deepening corporate pessimism. The proportion of European companies that plan to expand their operations in China has also fallen to a record low, with just 38 per cent saying that they intend to do so this year. European investment has been important in bringing Western technology to China and in bringing Chinese products to world markets. The chamber, which has been gauging challenges companies face in China for a quarter century, represents the interests of some 1,700 companies, from industrial giants like VW to small businesses with a handful of employees who are cogs in global supply chains. The chamber's survey also unearthed a somewhat contradictory trend that could prove troublesome for US President Donald Trump's attempt to shield American manufacturing from China's exports with tariffs. Even as European businesses curb their own investments in China, some are also buying ever more components from Chinese companies. That makes their supply chains even more dependent on China. China has retaliated against Mr Trump's tariffs by imposing its own tariffs on US goods. That has prompted a hunt by European companies in China for Chinese replacements for the few components they were still buying from the United States, said Mr Jens Eskelund, the chamber's president. A broad fall in prices in China has made Chinese components too good a deal for many European companies to pass up. A recent weakening of China's currency against the euro has made Chinese components even more attractive. 'The one place where they actually get better components at a lower price than anywhere else in the world is here in China,' Mr Eskelund said. Not only the US, but the European Union and other countries have imposed tariffs lately in response to China's soaring exports of manufactured goods and tepid demand for imports. European companies that export from China to other markets had long feared possible trade barriers, but some were still caught off guard. 'That fear has turned into a nightmare for many at the moment,' said Mr Klaus Zenkel, a businessman in Shenzhen who is a member of the chamber's South China chapter. Some companies have set up temporary assembly operations in other countries to bypass US tariffs, Mr Zenkel said. They rent warehouses in places like Taiwan, do the final assembly of Chinese components in the warehouses and then ship the finished goods to the US with Customs declarations that no longer show the goods as coming from China. The Trump administration is trying to reduce these indirect shipments from China. Mr Trump has threatened high tariffs against countries that run large trade surpluses with the US. One category of business conditions has improved very markedly in China in the past year, according to the European chamber's survey. The share of European companies worried about rising wages has fallen steeply over the past several years, and these now rank among the least of their concerns. Labour costs had been rising along with China's surging housing prices. But that bubble burst in 2021, causing declines in construction that eliminated many jobs. In turn, flat or even falling wages have contributed to weak demand in China for everything from imported cosmetics to hotel rooms – resulting in broadly low prices, a potentially dangerous phenomenon known as deflation. 'By a wide margin, it is China's economic slowdown that is seen as having the greatest impact,' Mr Eskelund said. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China Blinks? Rare Earth Lifeline May Be Coming for Tesla and Europe's Chipmakers
China might be loosening its grip on rare earth exports, just weeks after throwing a wrench into global supply chains with sweeping new licensing rules. Following pressure from semiconductor firms in both China and Europe, Beijing held a closed-door meeting this week to hear out mounting frustrations. The outcome? State media is now floating the possibility that companies critical to the chip industry could get a faster lane through export controlsthough no formal pivot has been announced yet. Back in April, China added seven rare earths and related products to its export control list, forcing all exporters to apply for licensesno matter where the goods were headed or who the buyer was. A few approvals have trickled through since then, mostly for rare earth magnets used in EVs, chips, and defense. But the process has proven slow and confusing, with some applications stuck in customs for months. The European Chamber of Commerce says the delays could soon bring parts of the continent's high-tech manufacturing to a grinding halt. That's why this potential easing matters. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), for instance, relies heavily on rare earths for its electric drivetrainsand so do European fabs trying to meet production targets. Jens Esklund, who leads the EU Chamber in China, didn't mince words: without faster approvals, many European production lines will come to a halt. If Beijing follows through, it could offer much-needed breathing room for chipmakers and automakers alike. Investors will be watching closelynot just for policy changes, but for clues about how China plans to balance control with commerce. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
